You Have a Constitutional Right to Confront Your Accuser

In the case of the United States of America versus Lance White, the Court ruled that Mr. White's constitutional right to confront his accuser--a police officer--was violated when White's lawyer was not allowed to question the officer about the fact that a judge in another federal gun possession case had previously ruled that the officer's testimony was not worthy of belief.

The Court in White's case said that evidence which might lead a jury to conclude that an officer was willing to lie in a similar case in order to obtain a criminal conviction is both relevant and probative. That is particularly true in Mr. White's case where his defense centered on proving that the same detective and other officers were lying when they testified that they found a gun in his pocket when they searched him.